


5 Times Lance Went Into Keith's Room and One Time Keith Went to Lance's

by Vanilla_Phoenix



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: 5+1, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Keith Is Gay AF, Keith and pidge are bros - Freeform, Langst, M/M, My space bois, Space dad tm, bi lance, he is beauty, he is grace, he is just a gay in space, klance, lance is insecure, non-binary Pidge
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-07
Updated: 2017-09-08
Packaged: 2018-12-24 23:00:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 7,844
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12022881
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vanilla_Phoenix/pseuds/Vanilla_Phoenix
Summary: What it says on the tin





	1. Dinner Bell

The tinted blue light reflected off of Keith's face as he tapped away at the screen on his knees. He had no idea how long he'd been researching. With barely any clocks on the ship and no sun to signal a new morning, it was extremely easy to lose track of time. His shaggy black bangs hung in front of his eyes and he took a moment to sweep them away and get up off of his bed to stretch his tired back. As he stood up, he jumped at a knock at the door. "Yeah?"

"Hey man," Lance grinned, his army green jacket tied around his waist.

"Hey. What do you want?" Keith yawned, slumping back onto his bed.

The Cuban frowned, crossing his skinny arms over his chest. "Um, it's dinner time." Keith just looked blankly at him.

"We've been worried you haven't been eating lately, you never come when it's ready. To be honest," he continued, sitting down in Keith's wheely chair as the doors shut behind him. "I probably would have let you starve, but I flat out cannot take Hunk's sad puppy eyes."

Keith smiled for a second, sitting up. "Well, I'm used to eating on my own schedule, I'll grab something whenever I'm hungry."

"Aw come on dude," Lance protested, pushing himself back and forth with his foot. "Even if you're not super hungry, it's nice to sit with everyone. Trust me, I'm experienced, family dinners are a global event at my house," he snickered.

"I'm, um, not very experienced with that, Lance." The brunet raised an eyebrow at him. "I'm an orphan." The blue paladin's eyes widened and his mouth dropped open slightly in a blend of disbelief and embarrassment. _Shit_ , Keith thought. _That was way too blunt, you're such an idiot._

"I, what I mean is-"

"Keith, I'm so sorry," Lance spluttered, mentally punching himself. "I-I totally forgot, I didn't mean to-"

"No, no it's fine." His face was feeling just as red as his lion and he wanted nothing more than to pull his jacket over his head and eject from the conversation.

"I mean, I had my dad for a little while and, well, I'm fine. Is what I mean."

Lance sunk onto the bad next to him, one hand on his shoulder. "You not having a family is extremely not fine, man. But we can fix that. Can't find you a better rag-tag weirdo family to keep you company on space missions." Keith gave a small chuckle, pointedly avoiding eye contact. Lance gave his shoulder a squeeze and stood up. "You gotta give family a chance though. Annoying relationships that will haunt you for the rest of your life weren't formed in one day." His grin softened as he looked down at his teammate. "Food's gonna get cold soon," he said gently before walking out of the room. The red paladin looked up just in time to see the door close as Lance glanced back over his shoulder. Keith leant forwards on his knees, wringing his hands together for a few moments. With a sigh, he got up, shoved his hands in his pockets and walked out to join the others.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sup dudes! This is my first fic on the site, welcome! I have flung myself into Voltron and Klance hell with no regrets. At the time I'm posting this, the final chapter is almost done, so more space gays will be on the way! Enjoy!


	2. The Blade of Marmora

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith seriously needs to take better care of himself

As soon as Keith returned from the trials of Marmora, Lance had been fuming. He hid it quite well, but inside his brain was a whirlwind of frustration. However, he couldn't really do much about it, as The Blade was very focussed on efficiency and working on maximum effort to stop Zarkon. He tried to give it one night so he could maybe calm down more and face Keith the next evening, but his thoughts were eating him alive. And so, the next night Keith found his arm being roughly dragged by Lance to his own room, his friend's only explanation being, "I know this situation is important and all, super secret Galra business, but we need to talk."

"What's happening here? What's your problem, man?" he questioned, getting more and more angry about Lance's pointed silence. Keith couldn't help but think that Lance was going to completely chew him out for the information that leaked out after the trials. Bitterly bracing himself, Keith barely noticed that he had already been pulled back to his room and that Lance had released his grip. "Lance, what-"

"What the HELL is wrong with you man?" the blue paladin shouted, his hands balled at his sides. Keith's eyes widened, and he could only blink, his mouth falling open as he stumbled over what to say. "I honestly can't believe you," Lance continued, slightly quieter his time but just as angry. "First, you go running off with Allura, which is not only dangerous but a totally stupid move-"

"We were fine-"

"You had no guarantee of that, you just went and practically eloped in the middle of the night! You could have been spotted by a patrol, you...you both could have died, you could have gotten totally lost in space," Lance continued, counting off the scenarios on his fingers while staring Keith right in the face.

Keith just looked at him in disbelief, starting to get mad as well. "Lance, it wasn't like tha-"

"And immediately after that, what do you do? You go and take this ridiculous test, set by these people you don't even know, and you bring yourself to the brink of death!" Keith had never seen Lance this mad before, and it made his heart completely sink into his stomach. "As much as I say you are, Keith, you're not an idiot! So how could you POSSIBLY think that it was a totally fine thing to do: to go and almost get yourself killed?"

"You don't get it Lance!" Keith bit back angrily, shoving his hands into his pockets. "I've never had a real family, I had to know who I am!"

"That's not what I asked! What made you think it was ok to push yourself so close to death there?" Keith just opened and closed his mouth like a goldfish, his brain practically short-circuiting. This was not how he thought the conversation would go. Abruptly, Lance loosened his fists and his eyes became softer. Before Keith knew it, the boy's lanky arms were wrapped around his shoulders. "Listen, I know this is important to you, and I can't imagine what you've gone through to get this far," Lance muttered, Keith's hair brushing at his cheek. "But I will not," he continued, looking him straight in the eyes, "let you do anything so stupid with your own life again. We need you. And not only that but...we want you here too. So you are not allowed to be that kind of extreme reckless again. Ok?" Lance finished gently.

Keith's eyes were stinging, and his mind was racing at a million miles an hour. He quickly realized how close he was to Lance and pushed his tanned hands off of his shoulders. "Why do you care anyway?" he replied bitterly. "It's my past, it's my family, it's my choice what I do."

If Keith had thought the fire in Lance's eyes was gone, oh hell no, it had just been reignited. "Are you serious, Keith? Do you have any idea how ridiculous you're being?"

"How ridiculous _I'm_ being?" Keith roared. "I honestly can't believe you! Didn't you get the memo, don't you know what I am?" Lance threw his arms in the air, raising a questioning eyebrow, his teeth clenched in anger. "I'm your _enemy_! I'm part Galra, remember? I slaughter innocents, I have no compassion, I tear apart families! Just look at me on earth, look at me on this damn ship," he yelled, gesturing around the room. "I'm incredibly selfish, I make everyone pissed off and on top of that, after you all learning about everything about my parents, I'm sure you all want me out of here anyways!" Keith stopped, his chest heaving and ears ringing. He looked at Lance, fuming to the ears, ready for some witty comeback or insult. Lance moved forwards to try and put a hand on his shoulder, but Keith jerked himself away, his eyes downcast and arms folded over his chest. "Why don't you hate me?" he mumbled, the words barely audible.

Lance tried to swallow the lump in his throat and tentatively reached out to him again. "Look, it's getting near curfew, let's just relax and talk about this, ok? Buddy?"

 _No_ , Keith thought bitterly. _Hell no I do not want to talk about this._ But all the fight had left his body and he let Lance push him over to his bed, his friend lying on his elbows next to him.

"Ok, so first of all, I seriously don't give a quiznak that's you're part Galra," Lance stated firmly.

Keith blinked at him. "Wh-why not?"

"Well, for starters, you've never hurt anyone innocent ever. Except for me, you could really lighten up on the sparring matches, man." Keith cracked the tiniest of smiles. "You're also a paladin of Voltron, you've dedicated your life to helping people, which seems to be a hell of a lot more than the Galra are doing. You can't associate yourself with that army because that's not who you are. You're a part of us. Look," Lance sighed, "I know it's a huge blow right now, but anyone on the team who has any resentment towards you now, they will get over it. They're good people and so are you."

Keith swallowed hard as he looked away from Lance's bright eyes. "I, um, I really appreciate you saying that, Lance, but I'm pretty sure I'm not worth that much trouble."

The paladin's eyebrows furrowed. "What are you talking about?"

"I mean," Keith sighed, drawing his knees up closer and wrapping his arms around his torso. "I'm not a good person, I..." he struggled to find words, but they all stuck in his throat.

"Are you kidding me right now?" Keith looked up, startled, to see Lance looking as though Keith had told him the most transparent lie ever. "You're Keith goddamn Kogane! You're a legend at the Garrison and a top fighter pilot, you saved Shiro, you've saved my life, you're saving the universe right now! And even though you're kind of an idiot, you're smart, resourceful, you care about your friends and, most impressively, you managed to survive your teenage years, on your own, in a shack in the desert! Like what the quiznak, man, how on earth did you do that?" With that, Keith actually laughed. It was a rare occasion when someone could draw it out of him and Lance felt his heart ramping up speed at the sound. Keith glanced at the blue paladin with the ghost of his smile still lingering. "But seriously," Lance continued, pointedly ignoring the heat rising in his cheeks. "Hey. Look at me." Keith very reluctantly looked up at his face. "You are not a bad person. You've gone through some hard stuff, but you've come out of it just fine." Lance scooted closer on the bed, pulling him into a tight hug. "Just because you don't care about yourself all that much, doesn't mean you get to go and die on us. Ok?" Keith nodded over his shoulder, blinking away tears as exhaustion overtook him.

  
***

  
Lance blinked the sleep away from his eyes after partially waking up and going back to sleep about five times. Yawning slightly, he opened his eyes to see Keith, just inches from his face. Lance's eyes widened rapidly as realization crashed over him like a wave. He was in Keith's bed, he had spent the night in his room. And there was Keith, breathing softly in his sleep, arm tucked under his head, black hair falling messily over his eyes and pillow... Lance snapped himself out of his trance, and his heart raced as he thought about sneaking back to his own room. He got up and pulled his shoes on, frantically scanning the room for his jacket which he must have wriggled out of in his sleep. Whirling around, he glanced back and did a double take as he looked over at Keith and saw him snuggling his jacket like a blanket. Lance's face flushed bright red and he dropped to his knees, trying to think of how to handle this. He reached with careful fingers to pull the jacket out from under Keith's chest, and just about stopped breathing when he noticed he was right by his face. Lance was suddenly transfixed by the cute way his mouth twitched in his sleep and his sharp cheekbones and...he realized he was getting too close for personal comfort. As he backed away, Keith mumbled something inaudible in his sleep, rolling over off of the jacket. Relieved, Lance tried to pull the last sleeve from under his waist when Keith's hands started wandering in his sleep, presumably searching for the jacket. Panicking, Lance gently tugged it free and hurried out of the room and down the hallway, his face bright red and a slight giddiness overtaking his brain.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Am I the only one who noticed that Lance was one of the only people that treated Keith the exact same as before they found out he was Galra? #supportyourspaceboyfriend  
> Seriously though, that episode straight up wrecked me, dear god


	3. Family

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shiro's disappearance was one of the hardest things for Keith to deal with. He was really lucky Lance was there to help

"He's...he's gone."

  
The words echoed in Keith's mind as he took off running.

"Keith! Keith wait!" Allura's voice rang out after him, shaky but still loud.

"I'm going back out there! I have to find him-"

"You can't." The princess's fingers clasped his arm. "We're still in Galra airspace, we have to get out of here while we're still alive." Her grip became more brittle. "Then...then," she continued, her voice thick with tears, "then we can...start... searching for Sh-"

Keith didn't wait for her to finish before he ran again.

"Keith, wait!" Pidge called, but Keith barely heard them. He didn't really care where he was going, he just wanted to put himself as far away from the paladins, from that hulking black mech, as possible. His eyes stung at the corners as his feet led him back to his room. Shutting the door behind him, Keith started pacing frantically, not knowing what to do with himself. He slammed his fist into his wall, gritting his teeth against the tidal wave of emotions. His breathing was becoming more rapid, pounding in his ears with the ferocity of gunfire. _Not Shiro, not again,_ Keith's brain screamed, but it came out of his mouth as a pained choke. His vision was fading and he started to see black in his peripherals as he faintly heard the door slide open. A pair of hands grabbed his shoulders and steered him to sit down on the bed. Keith's legs drew up into his chest and his breathing started to normalize again as a familiar voice guided him through simply breathing in....and out. His vision started to clear, and Lance slowly started to come into focus, eyes glassy and his face several shades paler than normal.

"Hey buddy," he said shakily, his arm wrapped around Keith's shoulder. "Are you alright now?" Keith shook his head, his mental dam completely breaking. He started sobbing uncontrollably, chest heaving, letting out small wails as his tears streamed down his face faster than a waterfall. Lance pulled him into a hug and his friend threw his arms around his shoulders, desperately clinging to him. "It's ok," Lance murmured, some tears flowing out of his own eyes. Keith sobbed harder, gripping the fabric of Lance's flight suit and burying his face into his neck. As Keith's sniffles started to subside, he started to pull away, wiping his cheeks with the heel of his palm.

"Sorry."

"What for?"

"Crying on you. Making a scene. Probably making a total mess of your flight suit."

Lance smiled at him. "You shouldn't be sorry. You should have seen me after my brother died." Keith looked up at his friend, the tear tracks down his cheeks, his eyes tinged with red. "Car accident. I was sixteen. I was pretty much in a state of shock for the next week or so. Once the memorial came around, I hid in a closet and cried like a baby for two hours. You should have seen me, I was in so much pain, I thought I was going to die. But you know what happened?" Keith opened and closed his mouth, unsure of what to say as Lance continued. "My mom came around. She drove me home, made me some hot chocolate and we looked at old pictures of me and my brother together for awhile."

The corners of Keith's eyes were stinging again. "Your mom sounds awesome."

Lance laughed. "She totally is. And you know what advice she would give you right now?" Keith shook his head. "She'd tell you 'Rest, _mijo_.'" The red paladin opened his mouth to protest, but Lance shushed him. "I know, I know. I'm extremely upset that Shiro's gone. We all are. But if you go out and try looking for him now, you'll kill yourself if the Galra don't surround you first. So you're going to sleep now, and then tomorrow we'll all start searching. Ok?" Keith nodded weakly, too drained to argue.

Lance didn't leave until Keith had changed and gotten into bed. After he'd said good night and left the room, Keith passed out almost immediately, a warm feeling settling in his chest as he drifted off.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AUGH it's so cute but sad Keith kills me. Supportive Lance, especially in Season 3, is my jam, they're becoming even more married now


	4. I Drink to Forget _____

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Basically drunk Lance is an affectionate lil shit

With such a loud, bustling, unique group of people all living in the same castle, the nights were always eerily quiet. Hard to imagine, but Keith didn’t mind the silence. On nights when he couldn’t sleep, he would stroll around the castle, going nowhere, just spending time with his own brain. He took a deep breath as he finally sat down to look out the observation deck. The stars lazily flew by as the castle steadily moved through space. Just as he was starting to slump over, eyelids falling, the paladin was alerted to a crash and yelling a floor below. Blinking a few times, he concentrated on listening and heard Pidge’s angry shouting above the rest. When Keith finally made his way to the source of the noise, the voices immediately hushed as he pushed open the kitchen doors. Pidge and Hunk froze to look at him, the floor scattered with the remains of two bottles and a plate. It was remarkable how both of them could look so sleep deprived, frustrated and freaked out at the same time.

Pidge grinned evilly at Keith and immediately bolted past him out the door, calling “NOT IT.” Keith stared after her until he felt a skinny arm around his shoulders.

“Heyyyyyyy, what’s cooking, uh….my man?” Keith jumped out of his skin, sliding on some liquid on the kitchen floor and landing on his back with a solid thud. Lance tumbled down next to him, legs sticking up like a bizarre lanky turtle.

“Ugh, quiznak, are you guys ok?” Hunk cursed, running over carefully.

“Fine,” Keith groaned, Lance merely raising a thumbs up in response. “What’s wrong with him?” he continued, as Lance wriggled slightly on the floor.

“Well, remember the Pu’weajean village we freed from the Galra?” Keith nodded, raising an eyebrow. “Well to give us thanks, they gave us…some sort of, I guess…” Hunk hesitated, thinking of the right words.

“Alcohol?” Keith offered.

“Like weird space booze, with the potency of a head wound. And Lance doesn’t have the biggest alcohol tolerance to begin with,” Hunk clarified, sweeping up the broken glass and ceramic.

“Why did he drink it?”

“I don't know, man," Hunk sighed, walking to throw away the last shards of glass. "Why does Lance do half the things he does? He's a creature of many mysteries.”

Keith groaned as Lance picked up his foot, examining it quizzically. “Keeeeeeith, your boots are weird. Why couldn’t you decide on one colour?” Keith looked at him as if he was insane and the Cuban just shrugged. “Wha's your problem?”

“So…” Hunk looked down at Lance, who flashed him a goofy grin. “I’ve cleaned up the mess, and it's late and since you're technically team leader, you take care of insubordination so…see ya.” And with that, Hunk took off.

Keith sighed. “C’mon buddy, let’s get you to bed.”

Honestly, Keith thought he was doing really well. They had gotten to Lance's room, and he had simply pushed his friend inside and said good night, closing the door. But by the time he had gotten to his own room, he felt a tug on his right leg and saw Lance, his arms wrapped around his knee. "Lance, what are you doing? Go back to your room, you need rest."

"Aw but my room is so booooooooring. I want to stay in your place."

"My room is literally the exact same as yours."

"No way, my room doesn't have your dumb mullet in it."

"Point taken, now go back to your room." Keith tried to walk inside his room but Lance just let himself be dragged in like a 5 year old. "Let go, you idiot!" The Cuban just mumbled into his leg and clutched tighter. "Ok, fine. Fine. But just this once."

Lance raised his arms in celebration, the dopiest grin plastered across his face. "WOO HOO!"

"Shut up will you?" Keith hushed angrily, kneeling next to him and grabbing his wrists. Lance just giggled, the sound sending a splash of pink across Keith's face. "Let's get you to bed." Lance threw off his jacket, shoes, jeans and shirt before climbing into his teammate's bed.

"Keeeeeeeeeeeeith? Come on you have to sleep too."

"No thanks," Keith said from his desk chair, really not wanting to sleep next to his friend in this state. A dark pink tinged his cheeks as he remembered the last time Lance had spent a night in his bed, and he tried to push it aside to focus on some work. But it turns out, someone whining your name for five straight minutes can be very persuasive. Keith eventually gave in and kicked off his shoes and socks before turning off the light and climbing in next to Lance. It turned out his teammate was not at all pleased with looking at the back of his head, however.

"Buddy? Keith? My homie? Pal? Keeeeeeeeeeeeith?" Lance whined, poking his back, shoulders and just about anything else within grabbing distance.

"Lance just go to sleep already," the boy muttered, curling himself up even tighter. There were a few minutes of silence before...

"Keith?" Lance's voice was suddenly so soft and cautious that Keith's heart nearly stopped. Feeling a gentle hand on his back, he rolled back over.

"What is it, is something wrong?"

"Keith, my head feels weird." The fear in Lance's eyes gave Keith a lump in his throat. "And my hands...my hands feel all tingly, like they're...they're...."

"Hey, hey, uh it's ok," Keith told him shakily, trying to swallow. He took Lance's hands in his. "See, it'll be ok. Just breathe, in and out."

Lance took a couple breaths before looking at him with an expression he had never seen before. "Keith?"

"Yeah? Are you feeling better?"  
Lance smiled wide, his words slurring slightly. "Keith, you're a really cool guy, you know?"

Feeling a tightness in his chest, Keith did his best to give Lance a small smile. "Uh, um, thanks." _Smooth, Keith. Good job_.

"Like seriously," Lance rambled on, that same peculiar look in his eyes. "You're not only such a great fighter and pilot, like your skills are off the charts man, but you're always so smart and tactical about stuff and your eyes are so pretty and oh man, you'll do just about anything for this team. And I think that's pretty cool," Lance finished, grinning at his friend.

Keith felt like the wind had kicked out of him. The tightness in his chest was getting worse and his eyes stung as he desperately tried to hold back from crying. However, he couldn't stop a single tear from trickling down his cheek. Lance's eyes widened and he lifted his hand to Keith's face, wiping away the tear, and rubbing his thumb in small circles across his cheekbone. Keith face reddened and he turned over.

"Go to sleep," he managed to choke out.

"You're really great, Keith," Lance whispered, almost inaudible. "And I'm...I'm just an idiot."

Keith swallowed thickly and rolled back over to face him. "Lance, that's not tr-" but the other boy was already snoring. Keith didn't get to sleep for awhile, wide awake and alone with his thoughts.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aw boy here we go! You can cut the sexual tension with a knife at this point


	5. One Paladin Too Many

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What happened after the infamous Season 3 Klance scene

"Look," Lance continued, folding his arms over his chest, "when Shiro takes over the black lion, you're going to want your red lion back. If I get a lion, that means I'd have to take Blue from Allura, but she's progressed a lot faster than any of us did. She might be able to unlock powers we don't know of."

"That's true," Keith replied, sensing what he might be implying. Lance cast his eyes to the floor.

"So maybe the best thing I can do for the team is...step aside."

Keith's heart sank, seeing him so resigned. "What are you talking about?" he asked softly.

"This isn't a participation game. This is war and you want your best soldiers on the front lines." The bluntness of his statements was really unnerving Keith. It didn't seem like the Lance he knew, he sounded so defeated already.

"Stop worrying about who flies what, and just focus on your missions. Things will work themselves out."

Lance paused for a moment. That wasn't really the response he thought he would hear. He had figured that with Keith, it would be either extreme; yes, we need you or get lost already. "Ok. Thanks." He turned to leave so he could hide himself away before his emotions got the better of him.

"And Lance?" The boy glanced back. "Leave the math to Pidge," Keith told him, a small smile across his face. Lance couldn't help but give a small smile back as his heart started to pick up speed. But as soon as the doors closed behind him, all the little voices in his head started to come back.

'See? Even your leader doesn't think you're worth a sentence of reassurance.   
What ever made you think that anything about you is valuable to this team?  
I can't believe you're stupid enough to go to Keith. You think he would care? He'll probably ship you off the first chance he gets.  
But...  
But nothing. All you're good for here is jokes and dead weight. But don't worry! I'm sure your family will welcome you after you disappeared without a word into space for more than a year! I'd say your best bet is going to a remote planet and starting a new life so you don't have to worry about disappointing anyone right away. Good luck, loser.  
Loser. Idiot. Dumbass. Pathetic. Stupid. Worthless.'

Lance choked back a sob and walked quickly back to his room, head low and hands in his pockets. All he wanted to do right now was go to his room, beat the ever living crap out of his pillow and curl into a ball.

  
***

  
Keith watched the doors close behind his friend's back and his smile faded away. Something was definitely up with him. Not just today. Ever since they rescued Slav, Lance had changed. Just little things here and there where he wasn't himself, most of them weren't really obvious, but Keith had half-noticed them building up over the past while. This was the worst that Keith had seen and honestly, he hated it. He missed the old Lance, even his cockiness and his dumb jokes, and the constant pestering at Keith's expense. He really wanted to see Lance happy again, see him laugh at his own jokes like an idiot, skate through the slippery hallway in his socks, to see him smile again, that big grin plastered across his face. Keith realized he was absently rubbing his fingers together, thinking about how he held Lance's hands the other night, how he was inches away from Lance as he brushed away Keith's tear...

His face suddenly flushed red and he felt a tingle in his stomach. Wow, he really had it badly, didn't he. A peculiar noise sounded outside of his door, snapping him out of his trance. It sounded like Lance...crying? Whatever the noise was, it didn't sound good, so Keith walked quickly to his door and stuck his head out to see Lance quickly round the corner, hands shoved in his pockets. His body looked closed off and a lot smaller than he normally did. Keith swallowed hard, retreating back into his room. Now was not the time to push his feelings on Lance, he'd keep an eye on him from a distance to make sure he was getting better. Keith cursed his dumb feelings as he curled up on his bed. This was not going to be easy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Augh, insecure Lance makes me so sad! We need his goofiness back, he is a special ray of sunshine. Last chapter to come soon!


	6. The One Time

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With Lance growing more and more distant, Keith has to do something.
> 
> AKA Here the heck we go kids, strap in

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Enjoy the last chapter! It's a long one but I enjoyed playing around with it!

About a week had passed since Lance had last come into Keith's room. The paladin had done his best to try an encourage Lance, trying desperately to keep him in a relatively positive state of mind. Despite his best efforts, it seemed like Lance wasn't getting any better. If anything, his attitude was worsening. His comedy quota was steadily declining, he smiled almost as rarely as Keith, and he was starting to get dark circles under his eyes. Even fighting as Voltron had become a struggle. They could form together just fine, but they never lasted as long as they used to. All of this whirled through Keith's mind as he walked down the hall to join the others for dinner. He had no idea what to do, any actions he thought that he could take seemed like they would only make everything worse. He sighed, feeling quite drained as he made it to the dining hall. Pidge was tapping away on a tablet with Rover flying around their head as Hunk was dishing out the food. At the head of the table, Allura, Shiro and Coran were deep in conversation, all of them looking rather anxious.

Keith pulled up a seat next to Pidge. "Hey."

"Yo," they replied, blue light glinting off of their round glasses as they worked furiously.

"Seen Lance around?"

Pidge shrugged. "Uh uh. Haven't seen him at all today."

"I think there might be a reason for that," Keith smirked, marvelling at the speed of their fingers. Pidge snorted.

"Fair enough. At least I'm being productive."

"What are you up to?"

"Rover's helping me run database checks on these people I saw with Matt," they said a little quieter, angling the screen slightly so Keith could see a security picture of their brother. He nodded.

"Any progress?"

"Nope," Pidge replied bluntly as Hunk passed them plates of food.

"Oh...ok. Good luck." They flashed him a thumbs up before taking the plate of food with them back to the lab, Rover quick on their heels.

Keith didn't feel hungry. He just sat, playing with his food for a while until he jumped at a hand on his shoulder. He looked up to see Shiro, looking at him with a hint of worry in his eyes.

"Hey. You doing alright?" Keith glanced around the now empty room. So Lance hadn't even come in. That wasn't like him whatsoever, Lance wouldn't miss out on Hunk's cooking for anything. "Keith?" Shiro's voice snapped him back again.

"Yeah, yeah I'm fine."

"Well, I'm not buying that," Shiro replied firmly, sitting down next to him. "What's wrong?"

Keith sighed, running a hand through his hair. "I don't know. I think...I think Lance is, I don't know, drifting away. He talked to me about leaving the team since we have six paladins."

Shiro just blinked in disbelief. "Hm. I thought he seemed more down recently, but I never thought it would be Lance with an inferiority complex. Hiding in plain sight I guess." Keith chuckled softly. "So what are you going to do about it?"

Keith stared at him. "Me?"

The former black paladin raised an eyebrow at him. "From what you've told me, Lance seems like he was really there for you when you were..." He scratched the back of his neck, looking guilty. "...going through some things. You guys have put your lives in each other's hands more than a few times, and recently it almost seems like you two really trust each other. Maybe if you talked to him-"

"But I'm terrible at those kinds of things! Can't you talk to him, he'll listen to you, you're the leader!"

"Honestly Keith, I don't think he'll listen to me as much. He'll probably see it as advice from a father figure or a superior, which most people don't think is all that trustworthy. What he needs right now is a friend, someone who can empathize with him. And I think that's you." Shiro gave him a small smile. Keith could feel blush creep up his cheeks as he stood, preparing himself for what on earth he was going to say. Shiro seemed to notice his expression, and gave a small chuckle. "Now that," he said pointedly, flashing Keith a smirk, "seems like the face of someone about to go help a 'friend' in need, hm?" With those words, Keith's face flushed a brilliant red and his mouth dropped open. Shiro just smiled, clapped him on the shoulder and walked out of the room. Crap, well, he absolutely knows, Keith thought, feeling more than a little embarrassed. After taking a minute to breathe and pull himself together, he set off to find Lance.

  
***

  
The paladin in question had just flopped onto his bed after doing some intense training. He had worked himself to near exhaustion, trying appease the little voices nagging him, or at least drown them out. But here he was, still not good enough. A weak, trembling, stupid, good-for-nothing smartass. Lance slid down the side of his bed, sitting with his knees close to his chest. He pulled his hood over his head and his jacket tight to his body as tears rolled down his cheeks. Why was he like this now? Was he always so replaceable? Now that his brain had damaged the foundation of his self esteem, everything had started to crumble. He was overworking himself, training harder, reading and researching more, and he was more tired than he'd ever been in his life. But he pushed on. All he wanted was to be better, a part of the team, someone who mattered, and not just some kind of loser on the sidelines. More tears started to trickle out and he angrily wiped them away with the heel of his hand. God, all he wanted right now was to get out of his own head, out of his own personal hell.

Outside the door, Keith shifted anxiously, holding a tray of food. He didn't really know how the quiznak he was going to handle this, so he just swallowed and knocked softly on the door. He heard some quiet shuffling before a slightly strained voice called, "Yeah?" Taking that as an invitation, he opened the door, seeing Lance sat on the floor, quickly tugging his hood off of his head.

"Hey buddy," Keith said, setting the food down on Lance's desk. "You missed dinner."

"Oh," he replied blankly. "I, uh, wasn't hungry."

"Uh huh," Keith muttered, clearly seeing through his excuse. He walked over to the edge of the bed, looking down at the compacted figure of his friend. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing," Lance lied, crossing his arms.

"You're so full of shit, Lance," Keith exclaimed, his anger starting to build up.  
The Cuban boy stared up at him.

"Language, dude."

"Whatever," Keith waved the comment away, kneeling next to him. "You can do a lot of things, but don't lie to me. You're clearly not yourself. It's not just me that's noticed too. Ask the others and any one of them will say something's wrong. We never see you around the castle, you've become even more quiet and reclusive than me, and we can barely form Voltron anymore. I-we're all worried about you, we just want you back to normal," he finished, breathing heavily, his heart pounding out of his chest.

Lance just scoffed, avoiding Keith's eyes. "Yeah right. I'm sure everyone's much happier than they were before. I thought you of all people would be happy that I shut my mouth for once."

"What the hell are you talking about?" Keith exclaimed, infuriated. He couldn't believe this. How could Lance not see the impact that this was having on everyone, on Keith?

"What am I talking about?" The boy slowly looked straight into Keith's eyes, a tear rolling down his cheek. The paladin's breath caught in his chest and he had to fight back his own tears after looking on the mixture of hurt, anxiety and anger swimming in Lance's eyes. "Have you even _seen_ the way everyone else acts around me? I'm just a stupid idiot who everyone only keeps around to be the butt of a joke every now and again. I'm a terrible fighter and pilot, Allura's already ten times better than me and she only learned how to pilot a lion two months ago! I'm so awful that Blue replaced me with someone who was asleep for ten thousand years and has only flown a giant castle! It's a wonder Blue didn't want the mice to fly for me before! You ever been a third wheel, Keith, something that's totally useless? Because being a seventh wheel is a thousand times worse!" Lance stood up, looking down at Keith with tears rolling down his cheeks as he continued. "All I do here is slow people down. Everyone's fed up with me whenever I hit on any aliens or make jokes, and anyone who's not paired up with me on missions can breathe a sigh of relief when they have a chance to get away from my big mouth."

Keith quickly stood up, facing him. "Lance, I-"

"I'm not done! That's not even counting what my family must think of me back home. They hate me for leaving, I know it, how could they not after I disappear with no warning, nothing so much as a phone call or note. We've been gone for so long, they probably think I died in some crash at the garrison or something. And it's not like they'd miss me! I have so many siblings that they'd be just fine without me anyways, they'd be relieved of such a big pain," Lance choked out through his tears. Keith tried to interject but he cut him off. "No, don't even try, Kogane! You can't possibly know what it's like to miss so many amazing people that you're sure don't give a damn about you! What do you know about family? You're an orphan who lived in a run down shack in the desert, who was totally fine with being a loner with no one around for miles! YOU HAVE NO IDEA!" Lance regretted the words as soon as they left his mouth. He had just messed up really, really badly. His arms fell to the sides as he saw the stunned look on Keith's face. "I-" he started to tremble as his friend's eyes grew angry. Keith took a step forward. Lance braced himself for a punch, but was shocked when Keith pulled him into a fierce hug, wrapping his arms around Lance's shoulders  
"First of all," Keith said over his shoulder, his voice also thick with tears. "You shut your mouth about how I don't know about family. Do you even remember what I was like when Shiro was gone? I was a goddamn mess." Lance's arms hung limp by his sides, all his anger spent, but Keith still held him tightly. "And second of all, I can tell you right now that I know that Blue never replaced you. We had to shuffle around because the red lion is second in command, and if there's one person that I'm going to want by my side, it's you. And look how much good you've done already! You've saved my sorry ass too many times to count, whether it was from aliens or my own stupidity. You kept me in check while still having my back when I was going through serious hell." He felt Lance's arms wrap around his waist and his head buried in Keith's shoulder. "You're a great pilot, everyone has a different style that's not necessarily better than anyone else's. And I know for a fact that we would all be dead at least three times at this point if we didn't have your aim." Lance gave a weak chuckle and gripped the back of his jacket even tighter. "And we both know that your family hating you is such bullshit. They miss you terribly, no matter how many siblings you have. You're irreplaceable, Lance. It may not seem like it at the time, but everyone does like your jokes. I've heard even Pidge snickering at your terrible puns and pick up lines. You help take all of the seriousness away if even just for a few minutes, and we need that. Haven't you noticed how depressed everyone's been recently since you've shut yourself away?" Keith heard a sniffle over his shoulder and threaded one of his hands into Lance's short hair. "We all really need you back, Lance. We miss you." And before he even realized what he was doing, he pressed a kiss to Lance's temple. Snapping back to reality, Keith face flushed pink. He felt Lance tense up in his arms and immediately started panicking. _Shit. Shit. What have I done? I knew I would mess this up. What the hell were you thinking, how could you be such an idiot?_ He felt Lance pull away from the embrace and Keith prepared himself for the worst. "I-I-" he stammered, his heart beating at the speed of a motorcycle. Lance took his chin in one hand and forced Keith to look up at him, who saw a familiar spark in his eyes.

"You weren't just going to leave me with that, were you?" Keith's mouth dropped open slightly, at a loss for words. Lance's other arm slipped around his waist and pulled him in for a proper kiss. Keith froze for a moment, not even breathing, before closing his eyes and letting himself melt into it. Lance's hand moved from his chin to snake into his hair as Keith gripped the front of his jacket and his neck fiercely, trying to press them somehow even closer. Slanting his head to fit with Keith's lips, Lance tugged gently on his hair, causing Keith to moan embarrassingly loud into his mouth. They broke apart, gasping for air, foreheads resting and eyes lazily half-closed.

"You're staying here for the night," Lance breathed. He didn't even qualify it as a question. Keith just nodded, chest heaving and a powerful tugging in his stomach. Lance smiled and gave Keith a quick peck, making his face even more red, before pushing off his own jacket and turning the lights off except for a small glow from his desk. Before Keith's brain could register anything else, Lance pulled him towards the bed, lying down in his shirt and jeans. Keith threw off his own jacket, boots and socks before climbing in with him. Lance took a moment to look into his eyes once he laid down, grinning like an idiot.  
"So the whole 'we need you' thing was more like an 'I need you' thing, huh?"  
Keith placed a gloved hand on Lance's cheek. "Of course it fucking was."  
"Watch your language, Kogane, or I'll kick you out of my bed."  
"Mm. No you won't," Keith replied softly, bringing him closer once again. Lance kissed him much more forcefully this time, Keith could feel the hunger in the way he gripped his hips. His breathing hitched as the Cuban boy pulled him on top of himself and Keith then peppered kisses all down his neck.

"Keith," Lance sighed before letting out a moan as the boy scraped the crook of his neck with his teeth and tongue. Stopping at the mention of his name, Keith went back up to Lance's eyes, extremely nervous.

"What? Did I do something wrong?"  
Lance was speechless at the sight of Keith: pupils blown wide, black hair falling messily in his face, lips swollen and chest heaving with lost breath. He took his face in his hands, smiling tenderly.

"Good God, you're beautiful."

That did it. There was no way, Keith thought, that Lance McClain would ever call him something as sweet and simple as beautiful, and sound so damn sincere. He blinked back tears as a sob caught in his throat. _Oh no, no way you're doing this now._ Lance was starting to look concerned as Keith not-so-subtly choked back a wave of tears with a whimper.

"Hey," he whispered, rubbing a thumb across his cheek. "What's wrong?" With those words, Keith collapsed onto Lance's chest, letting it all out. He held onto the front of his shirt with a death grip, gritting his teeth against his sobbing. Mere moments after, he felt a pair of arms around him and he felt Lance's body shake as he began to cry as well.

"Why are you crying?" Keith choked out around his tears after a minute, pulling back to look at the boy below him.

"I just yelled at you about fifty reasons why I should be crying, why are you crying is a better question!" Lance gasped, feeling lightheaded. Keith just responded by leaning down to kiss him again. It was very sweet, only lasting for a few seconds before he pulled away, but just barely. Lance reached up to gently wipe the tears off of his face. "So you're going to tell my why you suddenly soaked my shirt or what?"

Keith reached up to his face, putting his hand over Lance's. "It's stupid."

"Try me," he replied softly.

The paladin rolled off of him, lying next to him with their foreheads touching. Lance's thumb traced over the edges of Keith's fingers, mostly covered by his gloves. "I just...I've never liked anyone as much as you. I..." Keith sighed, tangling their legs together. "I've spent so long thinking that a guy like you could never see anything in this. To hear you say that, you sound so honest, how do you do that?"

Lance just blinked at him, before smirking and looking into his eyes. "Well, because it's one hundred percent true," he said, completely evenly.

Keith blushed bright red again and hid his face in the crook of Lance's neck. "Shut up," he mumbled against his skin.  
Lance chuckled and pressed a kiss to the top of his head, squeezing his shoulders.

"Never."

Keith couldn't help but smile as he nuzzled into his neck. Lance was back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Holy crap you guys!  
> The amount of kudos and comments here has been amazing, I love you with all my heart! You dudes are so sweet!  
> I hope you enjoyed, it's been real!


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